Transformers 4 Will Be the Most Important Role of Mark Wahlberg’s Career According to Mark Wahlberg

Despite the billions of dollars that Michael Bay’sTransformers franchise has grossed at the box office, critics have regularly derided the Hasbro-toy adaptation for a number of elements that Bay incorporates in his films. Among them: his gratuitous use of explosions and his blatant sexual objectification of female characters. Inane dialogue. A pair of racist robots that were eventually written out of the franchise with a $25,000 guarantee by Bay himself. The wrecking-ball testicles that Bay boldly affixed to a mechanoid inTransformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen. Et cetera. Nevertheless, Mark Wahlberg believes so much in the forthcoming Transformers 4, in which he will star, and its ability to showcase his actor-ly talents, that he has made a bold guarantee to the press.

Michael Bay and I just did Pain & Gain and we had such a good time making it. He came to me and said, “I’m kind of doing a whole different reboot onTransformers. Are you interested?” I said, “Yeah, I’ll do it!”. I loved the idea and I think we can make something really cool and kick-ass. This is not something where it’s already established and I’m just in there to get a paycheck. I’m thinking this is the most important role of my career and I can do something really special.

While most of us might be skeptical that a role in an action movie about fighting robots would trump Wahlberg’s nuanced performances in The Fighterand The Departed, the Oscar nominee does identify one key differential: “It’s the only time my kids have ever been interested in a movie I’m making.”

Bay’s Transformers 4, which is set to begin filming in May, will feature Wahlberg as the lead character. In the meantime, you can catch a sneak peek at the pair’s collaborative style when Pain & Gain—a comedy/drama about two Florida bodybuilders (Wahlberg and Dwayne Johnson, most likely not in the most important roles of their careers)—opens in theaters in April.